New Delhi: A day after Central Information Commission (CIC) pulled up Centre over evasive answers to RTI query on who created Aarogya Setu App, the government has issued clarification that it was developed in most transparent manner with public-private collaboration in record time.
Setting the records straight, the Ministry of IT said that the Ministry of Information Technology had designated Director General of NIC as the head of Aarogya Setu mission and also constituted a team. The order for the same was released on April 8, 2020.
Giving out the details, the government clarification lists out details of designated officers for developing the gamechanger app. It clearly shows that this app was developed and managed by Government of India with voluntary support from some Indian tech companies.
See here…. Govt order for creating Aarogya Setu dated April 8, 2020
On why the National Informatics Centre gave evasive answers/dodgy replies to RTI query, the junior officers are to blame. They didn’t give handle the RTI query in required manner, resulting in unwarranted controversy.
The IT Ministry will take strict against these incompetent officers for this lapse.
Controversy over Arogya Setu App
Arogya Setu is a contact tracing app, that was branded by the central government as a key tool to fight Covid-19 in India. It was downloaded by millions of Indians during lockdown and has been mandatory for officer-goers as well as for visiting restaurants, cinema halls, metro stations.
The controversy broke out after an RTI complainant Saurav Das approached the NIC, National E-Governance Division (NeGD) and the Ministry of Electronics and information technology, seeking informtion on who created this App.
